It's Time to Train Officers Not to Kill Dogs

Maybe you’ve seen the video — it was all over the Internet, complete with the dog’s grisly death spasms.

Hawthorne, Calif., resident Leon Rosby was using his cellphone to record a standoff between police officers and armed robbers. At the end of the standoff, officers headed Rosby’s way. He put his dog, a Rottweiler named Max, in his car, then placed his arms behind his back to be cuffed. (He’d had run-ins with the law before.)

As the officers began taking Rosby into custody, Max jumped out the car window and approached. At first he sniffed the ground and paced, agitated but not threatening. When an officer made a move toward Max, he jumped and snapped.

So the officer killed him.

This was just a few days after police officers in the Chicago suburb of South Holland went to the house of Randy Green to investigate a report of an unleashed dog. While the Green family slept inside, the officers watched their dog, Grady, rest on the front porch.

After 20 minutes, according to the Greens’ lawsuit, “Grady approached Officer (Chad) Barden,” at which point Barden — who, the lawsuit contends, had a dog pole in his vehicle — shot him.

That incident followed by just a few days another one, also caught on video, in which two El Monte, Calif., officers entered — without notice — the fenced yard of Chi Nguyen and shot one of the family dogs when it approached.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports “there were four children present at the home when the shooting occurred, and a children’s pool party was taking place in a front yard across the street, according to the family and the video.” El Monte police spokesman Dan Buehler said the officer “followed policy.”

That’s precisely the problem.

Across the country, both state laws and departmental policies seem to let police officers use deadly force as a first resort against family pets that often present little or no threat. In one infamous 2010 case from Missouri, an officer shot and killed a dog that had been subdued and held on a catch-pole. In another, an officer shot D.C. resident Marietta Robinson’s 13-year-old dog, Wrinkles, after Robinson had confined the dog to her bathroom.

Last year, police officers chasing two suspects in Lake Charles, La., shot a dog named Monkey that barked at them. In Henrico County last July, police officers went to the home of a homicide victim to notify the family of the slaying. When the family dog ran toward them, the officers shot and killed it. In Danville four years ago, a police officer shot and killed a 12-pound miniature dachshund. For growling at him.

Danville’s chief says the officer followed policy.

Police officers receive extensive training about the use of force when it is applied against humans. But how many departments provide training on dealing with pets? Very few, says the Humane Society. This despite the fact that, according to a Justice Department paper (“The Problem of Dog-Related Incidents and Encounters”), 39 percent of U.S. homes have dogs.

More than half of dog owners “consider their dogs family members,” it continues, “and another 45.1 percent view them as companions or pets.” Less than 1.5 percent view them as property.

Do we really need systematic training to combat a few isolated incidents, however unfortunate? The question rests on a false premise. Civil liberties writer Radley Balko notes that over a nine-year period, Milwaukee officers killed 434 dogs — about one every eight days. And that’s just one city. Across the country, according to Justice, “the majority of (police) shooting incidents involve animals, most frequently dogs.”

But surely those shootings occur because the animals themselves pose a serious threat, right? Nope. The Justice Department says not only that “dogs are seldom dangerous” but that even when they are, “the overwhelming majority of dog bites are minor, causing either no injury at all or injuries so minor that no medical care is required.”

As Balko writes, “If dangerous dogs are so common, one would expect to find frequent reports of vicious attacks on meter readers, postal workers, firemen and delivery workers. But according to a spokesman from the United States Postal Service, serious dog attacks on mail carriers are vanishingly rare.”

Yet serious — deadly — attacks against dogs are all too common. They shouldn’t be. And the solutions are obvious: Departmental policies, backed by state law, should require police officers to use lethal force against companion animals only as a last resort.

Officers should receive training in safe and non-lethal methods of animal control — and in dog behavior: “An approaching dog is almost always friendly,” according to the Justice Department; “a dog who feels threatened will usually try to keep his distance.”

Finally, lawmakers should require an investigation of every dog shooting, to avoid what the public too often gets now: a knee-jerk defense of the officer involved and a callous dismissal of the family’s suffering.

After all, if a child ran at a policeman with a knife the officer might fire in self-defense — yet nobody would just let it go at that. Animals don’t occupy the same moral station as children, but family pets are more than just property. A badge and a gun should not be a license to shoot them at whim.

Black Blade: Shoot my dog I shoot you. Simple as that. If some deranged moron (even in a cop costume) shoots a nonthreatening animal then he is obviously deranged and a threat and should be put down as quickly and humanely as possible just as one would do to any rabid creature. It is a case of self defense at that point when a deranged psychopath draws a firearms and fires indiscriminately at a homeowner, his family and/or property. Serial murderers often kill and torture animals for pleasure and to put down such individuals in cop costumes is doing a community service by taking out potential serial murderers. Perhaps these cops should be fired and committed to mental institutions and police departments hire postal workers and meter readers to train cops how not to panic when they see small animals.

When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America , you get a front row seat. - George Carlin

I'm with you Black Blade. Shoot my dog and my place is going to turn into the O.K. Corral. If any body is so scared by a dog it should be principal. I have walked around 3rd world countries crawling with mangy, decrepit, mutts and still never worried about them. I'm definitely gonna crap my pants over one in El Monte, California...

"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?" -Thomas Jefferson-

"Our rights come from our humanity and may not be legislated away -- not by a vote of Congress, not by the consensus of our neighbors, not even by agreement of all Americans but one." Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

in the most recent one w/ rosby, i think rosby should bare most the guilt in that instance. the people filming him could not believe how arrogant he was being in the situation. walking around yelling about civil rights violations while being so close to the vehicles and all. one thing to make a point about civil rights, quite another to do it w/ a dog that is already viewed as dangerous because of the breed. that being said, i walked into a customer's house the other day, not thinking about the dogs that had been kenneled the last time i was there. i was pointing a laser thermometer at a register when one of the boxers came up and bit my left hand. when i realized what i had done, i froze, one hand at my side and one up in the air pointing the laser. the dog jumped at me, bit the back of my legs and my lower hand. i just sat there until the owner, realizing i had gone in, came in and called the dog off. there were 4 children under the age of 6 on the couch in the other room. i walked in unannounced and unattended w/ the dog between me and the kids. i don't fault the dog or the owner. but i was planning on how to choke the fucker out if it got worse!

Whether it's dogs or people it seems like LE are quick to start shooting nowadays............

“The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference- they deserve a place of honor with all that is good.”George Washington

"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." George Washington

Yeah, this issue drives me nuts. It's all part of the ever expanding militarization of civilian law enforcement, and the mentality that "they" can do whatever they damn well please. I cannot believe that officers are so freaking scared that they shoot first, and ask questions later. Freaking people like that should no longer be allowed to wear the badge. They seriously need better phych profiles to weed out the power hungry guys that can't wait to "bust some heads" and/or shoot dogs, violate civil rights, etc..... I'm sorry, but like Abukai said, you shoot my dog, and it's gonna be a bloodbath. I'm definitely returning fire, which "should" be allowed according to the principles this country was founded on.

Enforcement, NOT Amnesty!!!!!!

"If they’re going to come here illegally, apply for & receive assistance through a corrupted Government agency encouraging this lawless behavior, work under the table & send billions of dollars each year back to their families in Mexico, while bleeding local economies dry, protest in our streets waving their Mexican flags DEMANDING rights, while I have to press ’1′ for English, then they need to be shipped back to where they came from!" -Chad Miller

I LOVE IT! The cops send in the dog to do something that they are too chicken-shit to do, and the dog gets executed for his troubles. The cops should have shot each other and left the dog alone. And what the hell were they shooting? On my computer it sounded like a damn Skorpion.
And trickyrick, just because a civilian gets too close and starts talking about 'constitutional rights', doesn't mean an aryan nation thug in a uniform has the right or reason to shoot the dog.
Hunter

Only dogs I ever shot were attacking someone out in the Public or on their (The persons) property. Going onto a Dogs property and having it attack is like breaking a window at the bank and wondering why the alarm activated. I do think the Police (I am one) should have training with animal control.
It would be the same as sending them out to work with no firearms experience at all.
If my dog is attacking a kid down the street, Im to blame and go a head and kill him. Come on to my property in a "sneaky" way. He is going to have a mouth full of ass. THATS HIS JOB.

the one in calif were the idiot was waling around yelling at cops an left his dog in a car with the window open I can understand a little more . the dog made a obvious aggressive move an its a rottwiler not some littel dog . To me the one officer looked like he tried to catch it but the dog lunged forward an the other officer shot it .

Im a little on the fence as why the guy was being arrested as to what laws he broke but he was acting like a jack ass an obiously complicating what looked like a pretty serious situation . trying to get a race riot video filmed while cops are dealing with a stand off or what ever that was is a stuoid thng to do an If i was a officer Id have no glue as if he was involved or not. I have to blame the owner for not making sure the dog was restrained in the car. this is a lot differant that a cop coming to the wrong house an blasting the family puddle tied to the rocking chair on the porch . honestly if the dog had lunged at me on a public side walk I would have shot . I sure the hell am not going to turn my back an run from a 100 pound rot. could the officers backed off at first ? possably but I cant help think there not there to deal with a want to be Rodeny King JR in what ever it was there there there to do . that guy was looking for trouble bitching about know black cops an trying incite crap he left his dog basically loose an it made aggressive moves on a officer . could the situation been handled different? I dont know. did the one officer have to try to catch it? I dont know.

Bottom line is don't take your big ass tough guy dog to a crime scene an harass officer who might be in a life an death situation an let your dog jump out of a window you left open . an who was paling the music ? WTF

I love dogs but some people have them for the wrong reason . Im glad Im not a cop in that hood .

Taping cops is not a crime. The courts have already ruled on the issue many times. This is why they consistently lose lawsuits over arresting citizens for video recording of cops in the performance of their "duties". If they can't handle that and obey the Supreme Law of the Land (US Constitution) then they they should pursue some other career.

When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America , you get a front row seat. - George Carlin